Friday, December 27, 2013

Organization project #1 - Ribbon and trims

My craft room is in dire need of some serious organization.  I did some straightening, but that is seriously not enough.  I did a destash, but I could stand to do another one.  However, as fellow crafters can probably empathize, it is hard to part with beloved craft supplies.  So I am not going to do it all at once, and not drag everything out to do it....for me that only results in disaster.  I room full of stuff and me being overwhelmed.  I decided to take on one project at a time and as it gets done, (putting no deadlines or pressure on myself), I will move onto the next. 

Project #1:  Ribbon and Trims....

How in the heck did I end up with so much ribbon and trim?  I destashed about half of it back in September, but there is just still so much there.   So here is the before picture.  I had two drawers chucked full.  I was originally going to do ribbon books.  You can see my original below.  I had done this one well over a year ago (if not longer), but never got around to doing more of them.  Two problems with this solution...took me a while to hand cut all the notches in the pages.  The whole thing was from scratch.  Second, I don't have a lot of surface space for storage, but I do have drawers.
I was able to get it down to one.  I move it to the Alex unit behind me for easier access as well.

BEFORE
 
AFTER


 
The original book:  Front cover view
 Spine
 Inside view.

I had recently purchased a silhouette.  Well, I got it back in September with the proceeds of the destash, but recently took it out to play with it.  Shall I say I am in love? Boy am I ever.   Using file # 45600  from the silhouette store.  I created a storage solution that I love. 

The file comes with the cuts for box, 8 inserts, and side panels.  I just used patterned paper and since it was in a drawer, I didn't worry about fussing with that step.  I did however cut double the panels as I wanted to double up the inserts to make sure they were more durable - so I just glued two back to back.  In all, I cut twenty four boxes (only used 20) and 8 x 384 inserts.  The box measures 5 1/4" long x 2 13/16" wide x 2 6/16" deep then card at its tallest point is 2 13/16".

The drawer held twenty boxes and 5 - 10 cards fit in each depending the amount of ribbon/trim and thickness. I had just enough room along the side to tuck in 12 more cards without the boxes.


The box cut. It was easy to assemble because the fold lines were perforated.
 Assembled using score tape and inked edges.
 Here is a box filled with the ribbon
 A close up of the ribbon cards.

A quick Christmas Project

I was having the entire family over for Christmas.  Everything looked festive and cheery, but the back wall on one side of a door way was completely blank.  It needed something quick, easy, and festive.  This was a very fast and easy project...a little simpler than I usually like to go but I think it turned out pretty nice.